eally felt as wholesalers that the brand was being misrepresented in the market,” McCall said of the reason behind the label’s shift towards retail. “It made us think that we needed our own platform instead to be able showcase the brand in its entirety.” The brand has since opened five more stores, including its latest at Chadstone Shopping Centre, which opened to the public late last week. Next year, GPO will become home one to of the world’s biggest fashion chains, H&M. The store will be one of the Swedish retailer’s biggest in the world, occupying three floors and almost 5000sqm of the heritage listed building. LIFEwithBIRD will close its flagship GPO store in January as a result. “I think it’s definitely an interesting time in retail. The landscape of the Melbourne retail market is changing,” McCall said. “We’re losing a CBD location, which is a real shame. We’re closing not because we chose to, but because we have. The H&M store is coming and we’re losing our spot. That was our first flagship, so we’re really quite sad to see that go.” The closure has prompted the label to look for a replacement CBD location. “We’re hoping that something might come up to replace that store. But if it doesn’t we’ve at least been able to expand out to Chadstone which is completely different market for us.” Although the brand is losing its site, McCall says she still believes international competition only adds strength to the fashion industry and the local instore experience. “Melbourne is a real mecca for retail and we don’t feel that we’re really being hit that heavily. Our product is unique and it doesn’t really reflect the majors coming in. “What it seems to have done, like at our Chapel St location, is draw tourists and shoppers from the suburbs into the precincts to go the Topshop’s and those kind of drawcards. “By doing that people are coming into our stores on the way which is fantastic. I think it’s really quite positive.” LIFEwithBIRD’s other stores are located on Chapel St in Melbourne’s South Yarra, Flinders Lane in the CBD, and Prahran. It also has an outlet store in Brunswick. “It wasn’t necessarily our goal to open six boutiques in Melbourne, but it has naturally happened that way.” The brand has earmarked Sydney and Perth as possible markets for its first boutique outside of its home market, with McCall predicting an interstate debut by 2016. “We’d like to see that happen in the next three years. We always keep our eyes and ears open for the possibility of national expansion. We’re really keen to look at Sydney in particular, and also Perth. But it’s just about timing in terms of what comes up and how we could fit into that mix. “For now Chadstone is our focus for the next six months. I think the main thing that we have learnt is that we need to stop and breathe and nurture the stores we do have because it does take time to build momentum and things don’t happen overnight.” This article also appears in issue 1981 of Inside Retail PREMIUM, available December 6, 2013.